


24

by kayleeschuyler (stephaniebithell)



Series: Little Lions [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 24 by gem, Angst, Based on a song, Death, Fluff, Klance Week 2017, Klance Week 2017: Free Day, Langst, M/M, Poison, Sickfic, Whump, graphic descriptions of illness, it was only supposed to be a shot one shot, klance, pain and suffering, this got out of hand quickly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 16:59:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10971507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephaniebithell/pseuds/kayleeschuyler
Summary: They had been helping the Catsith, a cat like species (Lance swore they looked like the aliens from Avatar but no one else would agree with him), take back their planet from the Galra, when he had noticed that one of the Galran soldiers had taken a weapon from the Catsith warriors and had shot the dart like object at Keith who had been fighting a dozen sentries.  Without even thinking about what he was doing, Lance had thrown himself in the path of the dart and had to bite back a yell as the large dart (seriously how big was that sucker?) slammed into his left shoulder, piercing his armour and lodging deep in his body.  He tried to pull it out but the barbs that were on the head of the dart refused to let it move backwards without injuring him further, he would have to leave it in there until the battle was done and he could get someone to help him remove it the painful way.“24 hours?”  Lance asked breathlessly as he sat in the medical tent as Coran looked over his wound.Lance gets wounded in a battle and has 24 hours left to live.  What will he do in that time left, will he finally confess his feelings to Keith?  Will he manage to get back home before he breaks his promise to his mother?





	24

**Author's Note:**

> Alright! I have finally finished the monstrosity that is 24! 
> 
> Seriously, this was supposed to be a quick one shot, no more than 1,000 words, not this 6,000 word juggernaut! This is the biggest one shot/chapter I have ever written!
> 
> So this post is a couple of things, firstly it is my contribution to the Klance Week 2017 for Day 7: Free. (I am posting this at just past midnight so technically it is Day 7 for me. Yay being in Australia and being ahead of most of the world in time zones).
> 
> Secondly this is also a little gift to all of my followers as I have just broken the 100 followers checkpoint on my tumbr page!!!! Make sure to hit me up there if you want to chat or send me prompts https://www.tumblr.com/blog/stephaniebithell
> 
>  
> 
> I will say this. This, thing, that I have written was designed to break hearts and make you cry. This is the most angsty story in my portfolio and I am so proud of it. I will warm you that there is a lot of talk of death, seizures, asphyxiation and poisoning.

They had been helping the Catsith, a cat like species (Lance swore they looked like the aliens from Avatar but no one else would agree with him), take back their planet from the Galra, when he had noticed that one of the Galran soldiers had taken a weapon from the Catsith warriors and had shot the dart like object at Keith who had been fighting a dozen sentries.  Without even thinking about what he was doing, Lance had thrown himself in the path of the dart and had to bite back a yell as the large dart (seriously how big was that sucker?) slammed into his left shoulder, piercing his armour and lodging deep in his body.  He tried to pull it out but the barbs that were on the head of the dart refused to let it move backwards without injuring him further, he would have to leave it in there until the battle was done and he could get someone to help him remove it the painful way. 

“24 hours?”  Lance asked breathlessly as he sat in the medical tent as Coran looked over his wound. 

It had taken only another varga to force the rest of the Galran fleet to retreat and to put out some fires, some metaphorical and some literal, before the paladins could relax.  Pidge was the one that had noticed that Lance was favouring his left shoulder as they were helping move the wounded Catsith to a healing tent.  During the fight the shaft of the dart had snapped so unless you looked directly at the wound you couldn’t see the sliver of dark wood sticking out of his shoulder.  It had taken a considerable effort on her end to get Lance to admit he was in pain and needed to be seen to sooner rather than later and had been dragged along into the tent.

Coran’s expression was grim as he looked at the tablet he was holding with the results of the substance that the dart had been coated in.  Turns out the Catsith preferred to dip all their weapons in a poison that was deadly to humans.  “I am so sorry Lance, I have spoken with the elders here and there is no known cure for this particular poison.”

“Huh, I wasn’t expecting this to be the way I went, but I suppose it could have been a lot worse,” Lance said with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, “So what now?”

“We try to make you as comfortable as possible and I suppose we will have to tell the others.  They will want to know,” Coran said as he placed his hand on Lance’s uninjured shoulder.

Pidge, who had been standing next to Lance the whole time he had been checked out, was staring at him with her mouth open, “Lance?  I don’t understand.”

“It’s ok Pidgey.  We will head back to the Castle and Coran can explain it to us all again,” Lance said as he jumped off the makeshift bed, stretched his stiff muscles and chucked an arm around her pulling her close, “Come on, let’s head back together ok?”  She nodded her head slowly as she tried to process the news that she had just heard.

 

Coran managed to round up the rest of their team and get them to take a seat in the sunken area in the common room, they looked to him where he had stayed standing on the upper level.  He cleared his throat and with a grim voice started speaking, “I, uh, have something I need to tell you all.  During the battle, Lance was uh, hit by one of the darts that the Catsith warriors use.”

He had to take a moment to control his breathing before continuing, “I am sure you all remember during the briefing that the poison’s that they use are extremely deadly and that we were not sure what would happen you if you were exposed to them yes?”

They all nodded in agreement, there had been an intense briefing before the battle and the elders had been very specific that they should avoid even touching the darts on the off chance that just having skin contact would be enough to hurt them.

“Wait, you said he was struck by one of them,” Hunk said slowly, “Are you going to be ok buddy?” he asked as he turned to face Lance.

Lance flinched slightly at the question, “How about we let Coran finish explaining.”

Coran nodded at Lance, “I have done an extensive scan on the properties of the poison and it’s compatibility with the human body and have come to the conclusion that they are not compatible.”

“So…… Lance will be fine?” Keith asked from where he sat with his arms crossed.

Coran’s face became pained, “I’m afraid not Keith.  Lance’s body is being affected by the poison and currently has 24 of your human hours left.”

“Left?  Left to do what?” Shiro asked as he looked between Coran and Lance, confused.

“I have 24 hours left to live Shiro,” Lance said in a small voice.  The cries of surprise from his teammates were loud and panicked.

“What?”

“No!”

“Lance?”

“This is a joke right?”

“Lance, you can’t be dying!”

Shiro, Hunk, Keith, Allura and Coran all moved towards where Lance sat with Pidge curled up next to him and somehow managed to hug him at the same time.  Lance waited for the chaos to die away before he spoke, “I’m sorry guys.  I’m not too happy about this either, but there is no cure for this poison and from what Coran has told me it’s too late for a cure now anyway.”

“But why?  Why were you hit anyway?  Did the Catsith betray us?” Keith demanded.

“It wasn’t a Catsith that shot me Keith.  A Galran managed to get one of their weapons and was aiming at you when you were trying to fight a bunch of them off.  I just acted and jumped in the way.”

Keith was stunned, “But why Lance?  Why would you do that?  I thought you hated me.”

Lance barked a laugh, “Hate you?  Keith I have had a crush on you from the moment I met you at the Garrison!  Why do you think I was always trying to get you to notice me?”

Keith blushed as he opened and closed his mouth a few times before choking out, “You what?  Why would you say something like that?”

“Because.  If I am going to die soon, I want to die with no regrets and not telling you how I actually felt would have been a huge regret.”

Neither boy realised that their teammates had all untangled themselves from the dogpile and had made their way out of the common room to give them some privacy.  Keith still sat next to Lance with a stunned look, “Why didn’t you ever say anything before now?”

Lance looked away for a moment before drawing a deep breath, “Because, I never thought I would be good enough for you to like me back.  You were always five steps ahead of me in everything and you didn’t even remember me when we saved Shiro.”  He clasped his hands tightly in his lap and refused to look at Keith as he continued to ramble, “How could I ever confess to you when I was sure that you were going to reject me?  It was easier to like you from afar and even if you got angry with me for being annoying with all our competitions, at least you felt something towards me.  At least you saw me.”

There was a loud silence as they both sat there, Lance staring at his hands, until a pale hand crept into his view.  Keith reached over and took Lance’s hand in his, “How could I not see you?”

Lance’s head shot up at Keith’s words, wincing at the sharp pain that spiked in his neck “I remember the first time I ever saw you.  You were surrounded by a dozen or so of the cadets from the garrison, telling the story of how you managed to convince Hunk to go on a joy ride with you on a hover bike you had found and ended up joining the garrison.” 

Keith smiled, “You were so beautiful as you spoke and it was like all the darkness that had plagued me my whole life was chased away by the way you smiled when you were surrounded by others.  I was never good with dealing with people, Shiro was the only one who was able to handle my attitude problems back then and I was too scared to say anything to you.  I could see how good you were at everything, especially piloting, so I decided I needed to be the best so that you would notice _me_.”

They both sat there, holding hands and staring at each other, when suddenly Lance started laughing, “Oh god.  We are both idiots!  We have been pinning for each other for the past 4 years!” 

Keith blinked a few times before he joined in with the laughing, “No wonder the others were getting frustrated with us!  We must have been so annoying with the way we have been acting!”

Their laughter continued until Lance started to cough.  At first it was a light cough but as it continued it became heavier and heavier until he was bent over trying to draw in a breath of air.  “Lance?” Keith called over the loud noises he was making, “Are you ok?” 

Lance shook his head and pointed towards the water that had been placed on the table in front of them.  Keith dashed over and poured a glass, placing it in Lance’s shaking hands and helping the still coughing boy raise it to his mouth and sip.  It took a few more dobash’s for Lance’s breathing to get back under his control and allow him to breath in a calmer manner.  “Sorry about that,” he wheezed out before taking another sip.

“Don’t apologise.  It’s my fault that this is happening to you in the first place.”

Lance shook his head, “No.  I chose to jump in front of the dart.  I chose to protect you.  You don’t get to feel guilty about this ok?”

“But-“

“No Keith.  Look, I don’t know how to say this but… I want to spend my last day with you.  I have spent too much of my life running away from what I truly wanted and wasting what I had.  But if you are going to feel guilty for my actions then maybe we shouldn’t, I don’t want this to be harder than it already is for you.”

Keith shook his head before taking the glass from Lance and placing it back on the table, “I am not leaving you, not now, not ever,” he wrapped his arms around Lance’s body and whispered, “I want to spend as much time as I can with you.”

Lance stiffened at the action before relaxing, “Thank you Keith.”

“So what do you want to do now?” Keith asked when he finally pulled away.

Lance frowned for a moment before smiling, “Home.  I want to go home.”

 

When Keith called the team back into the common room Pidge raced to Lance and attached herself to his side refusing to let him go.  Keith turned to face Allura as she walked in with Shiro, “Do you think we can go back to Earth?”

Allura thought for a moment before pulling up a map of the universe on one of the consoles on the wall, “It will take us some time to get there even with a wormhole, but yes, I do think we can get there without too much trouble.”

“Thank you Allura,” Lance said from where he was still sitting on the couch, clutching his left arm.

“Is your arm hurting Lance?” Coran asked as he watched the young paladin rub his arm with a grimace.

“Yeah, the muscles won’t stop twitching.”

“I can see if I can whip something up that will help with the symptoms if you want.  The elders told me what we should be expecting symptom wise so I can keep you comfortable,” Coran offered, Lance nodded his thanks as he continued to rub his arm.

“Thanks Cora-“ he abruptly put his hand against his mouth and groaned.

“Lance?” Pidge asked as she moved from her spot and looked back at the others who had all moved closer.

“Gonna be sick,” he mumbled as he fought the impulse to throw up.  Hunk was in front of him in a tick with a bin, “Let it all out buddy.  Trust me, you will feel better once you do.”

Lance’s response was to grab the offered bin and curl around it trying to hide the contents of his stomach while Hunk moved his hand in circles on his back in sympathy.  He was dry heaving by the time Coran returned with a small cup of medicine.

“Here take this Lance, it will help a little.”  Lance took the cup and the glass of water that Keith had poured him earlier and downed both quickly.

“Yuck, that was disgusting Coran, but thank you.”  Coran just nodded gravely as he took back the cup and placed it on the table along with the glass.

“What kind of symptoms should we expect over the next few hours?” Shiro asked as he sat with Keith on the couch opposite Lance.  Coran hesitated, he didn’t want to make it any more painful for the humans and the next 24 hours were going to be some of the worst they had ever experienced.

“It’s ok Coran, I kind want to know too,” Lance said as he handed the bin back to Hunk, satisfied that his stomach was back under his control.

“Very well.  You are already experiencing the muscle spasms and nausea but you may also have rapid breathing, muscle weakness, an elevated body temperature, dry skin, headaches, muscle swelling, confusion, reduced sensation in your shoulder, seizures, you might stop breathing temporarily, short term memory loss, decreased verbal skills, hallucinations and…”

“And” Keith prompted.

“You will most likely die from asphyxiation,” Coran finished weakly.

“Oh.”  Lance was pale, his breathing shallow as he processed the list in his mind as he rubbed his shoulder absentmindedly.  He was going to die, it was going to be painful and he was scared.

“I will go and open up that wormhole, the sooner we start moving the sooner we will reach Earth,” Allura said quietly as she strode out of the room, wiping away the tears that had started to fall.

“I will go back to the med bay and start working on some more medications for you my boy,” Coran said as he placed his hand on Lance’s uninjured shoulder.

Lance nodded as he continued to rub his shoulder, “I think the ones you gave me are already working.  It isn’t as bad now.”

“That is good to know.  Let me know if you need anything more alright?”

“Sure thing Coran.”

 

The paladins sat in an awkward silence for a time, no one wanting to be the one to speak first and voice the fears that they all had.  This was going to be their last day with Lance, by this time tomorrow he would be gone forever and none of them knew what to do.

“Soooo…” Hunk finally broke, “What do we do now?”

“Well from what Allura was saying we have at least a few vargas before we arrive at Earth.  Is there anything you want to do in the meantime Lance?” Shiro asked as he shifted his arm off Keith’s shoulders where they had been cuddling.

“Do you think it would be ok if we watched a movie?”

“A movie?” Keith asked surprised.

“Yeah, I know for a fact that Pidge has Avatar on her laptop.  The James Cameron one not that horrible attempt at the Last Airbender.”

“Avatar?  But Lance isn’t that a little…” Keith trailed off.

“You were calling the Catsith the Na’vi when were on their planet Lance.  Don’t you think it might be a bit too upsetting for you?” Shiro finished.

“But Shiro, I want to watch it.  Please?” Lance begged, drawing on all his puppy eye power.  Shiro didn’t stand a chance, Lance had perfected the look by the time he was three.  When you have seven siblings (he didn’t have them all by that age but practice makes perfect) you have to have a secret weapon and this look was his.

“Fine!” Shiro yelled, throwing his arms up in the air in defeat.  “If we are going to do this, we are going to do it right.  Pidge go get your laptop.  Hunk you are with me, we are going to raid every room in this castle for all the blankets and pillows.  We are making the best pillow fort in the universe for this movie.  Keith, I want you to stay with Lance, start moving the couches around to make room, I am sure Lance can direct you on where to put them.”

They all snapped to attention and scattered to their assigned jobs.  Keith looked at Lance, “What is a pillow fort?”

Lance just stared at the boy, “You have never heard of a pillow fort?”  When Keith shook his head Lance blinked rapidly, “It is only the most amazing thing in the world!  You get as many pillows and blankets, like what the others are doing, and you cover the floor and furniture with them and make a massive nest type thing and chill.  Usually you do them at sleepovers and kids parties but adults are known to do them as well and they are more structurally sound than the ones that kids make.”

“Huh.  So where should I move these couches to?”

“Here let me help,” Lance said as he moved to stand, only to be gently pushed back into the cushions.

“No Lance, you just stay there.  I can move them by myself, hell you won’t even have to move for me to move the one you are sitting on,” Keith said with a smirk.

“I can help Keith, I’m not completely helpless.”

“I know Lance, but I don’t want you to strain yourself.  Just relax and let us do all the work ok?”

“Fine.  Ok well first you are going to want to move the couches as far into the walls as you can, we need to make sure we have enough clear floor so that we can all fit comfortably when we watch the movie…”

 

As the movie played, Keith found himself curled up with Lance, both of them laying against Hunk who had offered to be the team pillow, with Shiro on Lance’s other side and Pidge somehow managing to curl up in Lance’s lap.  Coran and Allura, who had snuck back in after the movie had started, were both laying at Lance’s feet, though Allura was more on Shiro’s legs than Lance’s.  Keith smiled, they were all able to have their little piece of Lance as they relaxed and watched, what Lance called, ‘the best piece of cinematography in Earth’s history’ even if all the others except Lance and Keith were asleep. 

During the part where the main character was going through the whole ‘learn to be like the natives’ thing, Keith noticed that Lance’s breathing had gotten sharper, he was breathing quicker and shorter.  Dammit, that was one of the symptoms that Coran had mentioned.

“Lance?” Keith asked quietly as to not disturb the others and placed a gloved hand on Lance’s arm.  The skin was hot, hotter than it should be, “Are you feeling ok?”

Lance turned his head to face Keith and his stomach dropped.  Lance’s face was flushed, his pupils wide, sweat was visible everywhere and Keith could see where Lance’s normally soft lips were cracked.

“I’m a bit thirsty, do you reckon you could get me some water?  I don’t think I am getting out of here anytime soon,” Lance answered as he gestured to the pile of bodies he was trapped under.

“Sure, do you want some more of the medicine?  I saw Coran leave it on the table earlier,” Keith asked as he crawled to the table had moved out of the way under Lance’s direction.

“Yes please,” Lance croaked out as he stroked Pidges hair from her eyes.

“Here you go,” Keith said as he handed the glass of cold water and handful of tablets over.

“Bottoms up,” Lance said before swallowing all the tablets at once and downing the water.  “Thanks Keith, I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Crash and burn,” Keith retorted.  Lance laughed quietly as he passed the cup back to Keith, “Yeah you are probably right there.”  He watched Pidge as she slept, “Keith?”

“Yeah Lance?” Keith replied as he returned back to his spot in the pile.

“I’m scared.  I don’t want to leave you guys.  I want to stay here and protect the universe,” his voice broke, “I don’t want to die.”

The next instant, Keith wrapped his arms around Lance’s burning body, “I wish there was something I could do or say to make you feel better Lance.  I have never been good at the whole people thing.  I honestly suck at making people feel good but I wish I could do that for you.  I just want to keep you safe here with us, I don’t want you to go away.  I know you don’t want me feeling guilty but I do, there isn’t much I can do to change how I feel about it.  I just…” he broke off as he felt Lance’s body starting to shake.  “Lance?”

“Sorry man, but that was beautiful.”

“Are you laughing at me?” Keith hissed as he saw the grin on Lance’s face as he tried to stifle his giggles.

“No~”

“You are!” Keith smacked Lance’s leg jostling a sleeping Pidge who growled in her sleep.

“Oops,” Lance giggled, “Gotta be careful not to wake a sleeping Pidgey, they are dangerous creatures.”

“Dam right they are,” Keith agreed with a wary glance at the sleeping girl.  “Come on, let’s finish watching the movie and see how you feel after that ok?”

“Ok,” Lance agreed as they both settled down but not before Lance took Keith’s hand in his and entwined their fingers.

 

Keith woke suddenly, his entire body being jerked roughly and his hand felt like it was in a vice grip.  As his vision cleared he realised he was still in the pile of bodies that was his space family but he now saw what had woken him.  Lance was spasming in his sleep which woke up all the others abruptly.

“Lance?” Hunk mumbled sleepily from where he was trapped underneath Shiro, Keith and Lance.

Allura and Coran yelped as they were kicked when Lance’s legs straightened out and locked.  Keith realised what was happening when he watched Lance’s entire body go ramrod straight, “He is having a seizure!”

The instant he said that, they all scrambled to sit up but no one moved to touch him as they weren’t sure what to do.  Coran, Keith swore he was going to kiss the gorgeous moustached Altean, sprang into action as he moved one of the pillows from their fort under Lance’s head and made sure that he wasn’t in danger of hurting himself further.  “Coran?  What can we do?” Keith asked as he watched Lance in horror as his breathing became shallow.

“There isn’t anything we can do now, we just have to let him ride it out and hope he doesn’t bite his tongue.”  As Coran spoke, Lance’s breathing became even more erratic and suddenly stopped.

Keith had never seen Coran move as fast as when Lance stopped breathing, the older man was immediately checking Lance’s airway and when he was satisfied that he wasn’t choking on anything he began compressions to help restart his lungs. 

“Come on Lance, breath!” Keith whispered as he held the now still boys hand.

Pidge was in the corner of the fort crying in Hunks arms as Shiro and Allura joined Keith, both putting their arms around his body in comfort.  Lance wheezed as his eyes flew open and gulped in large lungful’s of air.  Keith let out the breath he hadn’t realised that he had been holding and felt dizzy from the lack of air, “Is he ok?”

Coran didn’t reply, instead he gently rolled Lance over onto his side in what Keith recognised at the recovery position from back on Earth.  “How did you know how to do that Coran?” Shiro asked as his grip around Keith tightened slightly.

“I did some research on basic first aid for humans when we first came together, along with Pidge and Hunk’s knowledge I was able to study enough to be of use if we ever needed it.”

Shiro nodded satisfied with the response, “Will he be ok?” Keith repeated with a little more volume.

“Considering what he is going through and the fact that his body is slowly shutting down.  Yes, he will be fine but I fear that the poison is moving quicker than we thought,” Coran answered as he studied Lance where he lay breathing heavily.

“Coran?” Allura asked, “What does that mean for Lance?”

“It means, Princess that we might not have as much time with him as we thought.  His body is becoming much weaker than it should be and he seems to be experiencing multiple symptoms at the same time which is not normal for this kind of poison.”

Keith felt his heart break at the news, Lance was dying faster than they thought he should have been, “Will we make it to Earth in time?”

As he asked the question, an alert sounded on the tablet that Allura had brought with her from the bridge, “We have arrived in your solar system.  We should be approaching Earth in the next few dobash’s,” she said as she read the notification that had popped up.

“What happened?” whispered through the tense silence that had enveloped the room.

“Lance, hey buddy,” Shiro said softly as Coran helped him sit up.

“Why are you all crying?” Lance looked around the room confused, “What’s with all the blankets?”  
“What do you mean?  This is our pillow fort, remember?” Hunk said from where he cradled Pidge.

“Pillow fort?  When did we do this?”

“A couple of hours ago.  Don’t you remember?  You told me where to move all the couches,” Keith replied.  Lance shook his head, “What do you remember?”

“I remember being in the battle with those Avatar aliens, uh, I got hurt didn’t I?”  When he saw the others nod he continued, “It was a pretty bad injury, I remember us saying we were going to Earth but I can’t remember why.”

“How about you come with me and get cleaned up,” Coran said to Lance, motioning to the fresh vomit that was covering his clothes.  ‘When had that happened?’ Keith thought to himself as he watched Lance struggle to stand and had to be held up by Coran to even walk.

“It’s getting much worse,” Allura said quietly after they had left the room, “I don’t think he will last more than another varga in the condition he is in.”

“We have to get him to Earth and to his family quickly,” Shiro said as he turned to the team.  “I think only one of us should go with him to Earth.  It might be too much for him if he is crowded by us all and it will be easier for one pod to make it to Cuba undetected.

“Who did you have in mind Shiro?” Keith asked.

“You Keith.”

“What?  Why?” Keith squeaked in surprise.

“Because, you are both in love with each other,” Pidge piped up from her spot in Hunks lap.

“I agree, as much as he is my buddy, it should be you Keith,” Hunk said, “Pidge and I can go and prepare a pod if you want.”

“That would be great, thanks,” Shiro said warmly.  “Allura can you go find Coran and when they are ready head straight for the pod hanger?”

“Of course Shiro.” She rose unsteadily and disappeared from the room quickly as Pidge and Hunk did the same.

“Shiro,” Keith started but was cut off as Shiro grabbed him into a big bear hug.

“Keith, we all know that you both confessed to each other, we were kind of listening in on that one.  Blame Pidge and her curiosity.  If he was in a clear enough mind space right now I know that you would be the one he would want to go with him.  I understand if you don’t think you can handle it and if that is the case then either Hunk or I will go with him, you don’t have to hurt yourself any further.”

“I… I want to go with him Shiro…I want to spend as much time as I can with him before he…”

“I know buddy, I know.”

 

Keith flew the pod quickly, the scanners on the dashboard giving him a clear landing point.  “How are you hanging in there Lance?” he asked as he took his eyes of the screens for a second.

The sun was starting to set and the oranges and reds of the sky were erupting in a beautiful picturesque painting and bathed Lance in their warm tones.  Lance was staring out the window, slack jawed, as the ocean rushed by and the landmass that was his home came into view.  “Tony!  You have to come look at this!”

“Tony?” Keith asked, “Who is Tony?”

“You are Tony stupid!” Lance said with a laugh, “How did you forget your own name?  Good thing your big brother is here to save the day!”  He turned back to look out the window, hands splayed against the barrier and Keith shot him another look.  How could Lance think he was his little brother?

“Coran, come in,” he called into his helmet’s com system.

“Keith, what is wrong?” Coran said after a few ticks.

“Lance just called me his little brothers name and it almost looks like he is acting like a little kid again,” Keith explained.

“That will be the hallucinations stating to manifest.  I can only say that it will be easier for both of you if you just play along with whatever he is seeing.  I don’t think he will become lucid until the very end,” Coran said in a broken voice.

“Oh, ok thanks Coran.  I’ll radio in if anything changes or when…”  Keith didn’t bother to finish that sentence and he was thankful to Coran who chose to ignore it as well.

“I’ll see you when you get back to the castle.  Coran out.”

“Tony?” Lance asked, “What’s wrong?  Why are you crying?”

“I just got something in my eye is all,” Keith said as he tried to smile through his tears, “We are almost home, can you see it?”

“Yeah I can!  Look there is our beach!” Lance pointed excitedly, albeit weakly in his condition.  Keith could see a smooth patch of beach that bordered a crystal blue cove, it really was everything that Lance had raved about all these years while they were in space.

“Let’s land and have a look around, sound good bro?” Lance asked as Keith started to look for a landing site.

“Sounds perfect,” Keith agreed.

Once the pod touched the sand, Lance scrambled out as best he could, his long gangly legs were like a newborn horse, weak and uncontrollable.  “Give me a sec and I’ll help you,” Keith called as he jumped out from his side and raced around to support him.

“Thanks.”

“Let’s head home,” Keith suggested but Lance shook his head.  “No I want to go see the ocean first, please Tony?”

Keith considered this for a moment and decided that this might be the better alternative than walking up to the McClain family residence with a dying Lance in his arms and trying to explain to his mother why her child would be dead soon. 

“Oh ok, you win,” he said as part of the act that Coran had told him to play, “Lead the way.”

Lance led them to a secluded part of the beach where the dunes had risen slightly and provided a natural seat.  Keith gently lowered Lance to the sand and once he had sat down himself, allowed Lance to lay in his lap.

“So what now?” he asked but wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the answer.

“Now I keep my promise to my mother,” Lance replied.

“What promise?”

“That I would always come home to her, no matter what happened.”

“That’s a pretty big promise to make Lance,” Keith said as he played with his hair.

“Yeah but it’s one I would make in a heartbeat for anyone I love, especially my mother.”  Lance turned his head to face Keith, “and you Keith.”

Keith sucked in a breath, “You know who I am?”

Lance chuckled, “Of course I do Keith, you are my space ranger partner, my mullet man, my…the man I fell in love with.”

“I fell in love with you too Lance,” Keith said, tears falling again as he recalled Coran’s words, Lance would become lucid again at the end.  This was it, Lance would was dying and he only had dobash’s left.  It was too much, too soon, Keith hadn’t gotten a chance to say everything that he wanted, he didn’t get a chance to be with Lance to learn how to love him.

“Keith?” Lance said in a strained voice.

“Yeah Lance?”

“It’s getting hard to breath.”  Keith could see that Lance was struggling to draw in air and decided that if this was it, he wanted to make sure that Lance was happy.

“Hey Lance, can I ask you a favour?”

“Sure…what is it?”

“Can I kiss you?”  Lance only nodded as Keith bent down and pressed his lips against Lance’s dry and cold lips.  It was a wet kiss from all of Keith’s tears and Lance kept trying to draw in a breath of air but Keith kept kissing him, he needed to convey all of his feelings that he hadn’t had a chance to say into this simple motion.

It wasn’t for a few more dobash’s that Keith noticed that Lance’s breathing had stopped.  “Lance?” Keith cried, “Lance?” he cupped Lance’s face in his hands and kissed him again, “Please come back.  I can’t lose you.  Please Lance, I need you.”  When Lance didn’t respond, Keith let out a painful wail of sorrow.  “LANCE!”

Keith spent the next varga sitting on the beach as night fell, rocking Lance’s body in his arms, crying into the night.  Once he had calmed down, he realised that none of them had thought about what he was supposed to do with Lance’s body when the time came.  It didn’t make sense to bring him back to the castle, they didn’t have anywhere where they could put him.  As he looked around he realised that this was the only place that would be a suitable burial ground for the Blue Paladin of Voltron, for Lance.

He found a shovel abandoned nearby and dug a deep grave on the shoreline near some grass tufts.  Once it was big enough for him to be satisfied that it wouldn’t be disturbed, he picked up Lance’s body and placed it gently in the grave.  He filled the shovel with the dirt and hovered it over Lance, unwilling to take the final step that would mean that Lance was gone forever. 

Keith shut his eyes and tipped the shovel. 

He continued to fill in the grave and once it was level again he picked some flowers that were growing nearby and placed them as a marker on the fresh grave.  He knelt in front of Lance’s final resting place and allowed the tears to fall again.  “Lance, I love you.”

 

Keith shot up in his bed with a cry, tears in his eyes as he leant his head on his knee, “Lance.”  He ran his fingers through his long tangled hair and let out a soft whimper at the pain his heart still felt.  He hadn’t been able to save him in the end, Lance had endured so much pain and suffering because he hadn’t been strong enough. 

“Keith?” a groggy voice interrupted his thoughts as the person lying next to him in his bed woke up.

“Sorry I woke you, go back to sleep,” Keith said turning his face away from his companion so they couldn’t see his tears.

“Keith, look at me.”

He sighed, he wasn’t going to get out of this one and resigned himself to face his husband, “Lance, I am fine.”

Lance took one look at Keith’s tear streaked face and knew, “It was that dream again.  Wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, it keeps coming back to me, especially after that scare we had this week.”

Lance smiled as he cupped Keith’s face, “Hey, look at me.  I am not going anywhere.  You are going to have to try a lot harder than that to get rid of me you hear?  It was just a dream, I didn’t get poisoned by some rogue dart, I didn’t die and I don’t plan on dying anytime soon.”

“But you were poisoned!” Keith snapped.

“By a yupper!  It was a stupid yupper bite and it’s not like it’s the first time it’s happened to me and I am sure it won’t be the last.  We have antiyupper stored in the med bay for a reason.”

Before Keith could reply a cry rang out in their room, he sighed as he moved to get out of bed but was stopped when Lance put his hand on Keith’s shoulder and pushed him back into their bed.  “You stay here, it’s my turn to get up with her anyway.”

Keith watched as he scooted out of bed and made his way over to the cot that was situated on the other side of the room, bent down and picked up their squalling daughter, “There there Lana, Papa is here,” he cooed as he pulled her to his chest and started bouncing her as he rocked.

Keith swore every time he saw Lance with their child that it was the most beautiful sight in the entire universe, even more so than Lance bawling his eyes out at their wedding.  He rolled out of bed and walked over to Lance, “I love you both so much,” he said softly as he kissed them both on their foreheads.

“We love you too Keith,” Lance said as he shifted Lana into Keith’s arms as she gurgled happily, her piercing blue eyes bearing straight into his soul.  Their family was perfect and whole and nothing could take it away.

 

**Author's Note:**

> You may notice in this there are some call backs to other one shots I have written and that is on purpose, I see this being in the same universe as Bad Luck and another story that I have just started planning (yet to be named and it won’t be posted until December as it will be my submission for the Klance Big Bang 2017).
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> Feel free to send me a message with your thoughts or any fic requests you may have. Keep up the love, cause I love you all!


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